Possible switch from a 911

[Twin Vipes]

Hi everyone, I am new to this forum. Just my two cents opinion. I owned a few 911 in my days. Currently I drive my water-cooled 911 daily. I also have two Vipers, 97 and 02 for weekend and meets. From a lightweight German precision machine to a brute force American true muscle car there are many striking different from braking, handling, cornering, etc.

I love my 911 for daily driving, but for pure joy and fun I pick the Viper. Every time I take it out for a run under sunny Southern California weather I always getting attentions and compliments from car lovers and not to mention the hp and torque you can use.

If you are looking to purchase one get a test drive of the car both on city street and the highway. Get the feel of it. Just be careful not to over right foot happy or you can get in trouble FAST!!!!! Good Luck!

[03evoIII]

Not stupid at all! It sounds like you have realistic expectations about owning the Viper already so that's a start.

Daily Driving it...hmm I don't think I could..but that's just me. GTS might be easier to daily though. My turbo was a 6-speed but didn't care to daily drive it in traffic. On the toll roads it was a different story though. Traffic sucks here most of the time so I won't be daily driving my viper anytime soon.

FYI - I ordered the skip shift eliminator for my viper...I don't like the 1-4 shift crap. You might look into that as well if you like (or have to) shifting your car at slow speeds.
OH and you'll probably want to pick up a short shifter kit ASAP because coming from your 997...the shift throws on the viper will feel about the length of football field and sloppy too. Fixing that will greatly improve your driving experience.

My turbo was modified as well, tune, exhaust, intake, coilovers, SSK, etc. I'm doing all the same stuff to my viper as well. I'm adding the coilovers (and other suspension bits) too because I'll probably take mine to the track..and just like my Turbo, I want it to handle fairly well.

I did all of my own maintenance on my turbo...I plan on doing it on my Viper too..should be A LOT easier IMO, cheaper as well. There's a few known issues that the gen 2 viper has...which you may have read about. That's pretty normal though and can be fixed. I don't see why these can't go 100K+ miles if properly maintained...In fact you are starting to see them pop up for sale with high miles now. I probably won't feel bad for putting miles on the viper vs the P-car either.

I think you would be happy with the GTS overall. Good luck with your search if you decide to go the viper route.

[Fatboy 18]

So did Little Green ever get a Viper or did we all scare him away?

[cburke996]

I just sold my 996TT in November for my GTS ACR. Had the Turbo for about 4 years, put about 50k miles on it and loved every minute of it. But I like to try new things and always loved the look of the genII GTS. So iconic, and you just never see them. The 996TT was, by all measurable accounts a "better" car but the Viper is more fun and interesting. No regrets!

[biturboamg]

Agree on most said here. Got out of a Turbo S and into a Gen V and while not as fast in a straight line or off the line the viper is by far more fun to drive and more of an experience vs the fast PDK Turbo S.

[jesseviperv10]

I don't know half the stuff these guys do but I bought a 96 Gts put a corsa exhaust on it and when you start it up and walk around listening to the sound it makes and the way it sits there and shakes my adrenaline kicks in and I can't wait to rip through the gears. The lines and shape of this car is just beautiful.

[hemihead]

I remember reading a comparison review years ago, it said driving a Porsche is like listening to a finely tuned symphony, driving a Corvette is like listening to a swinging jazz band and driving a Viper is like listening to Motley Cure with sledge hammers, lol. I always thought that was well said.